TEACHING EXCELLENCE AWARD

CLAIRE ADAMS, PhD, Associate Professor, Humanities

After 14 years teaching at SLCC, Claire Adams describes her role in her humanities’ classes as a facilitator. She encourages her students to share their knowledge and lived experiences in class discussions.

“There are so many big social issues coming at our students so fast—school shootings, a global pandemic, racial injustices—that I think it is important to instill in them a thought process that is solution oriented, so they are not left feeling helpless,” she explains. Because the humanities typically explore the human experience and seek to better understand the world, her teaching style increasingly leans into this solution-oriented approach.

Adams obtained a bachelor’s degree in Modern Studies in the Humanities from the University of Ulster at Jordanstown in Northern Ireland. She earned her master’s in Irish Cultural Studies from Queen’s University in Belfast and her PhD in Language & Literature from the University of Ulster. In 2018, she earned a master’s degree in International Affairs and Global Enterprise from the University of Utah.

Melissa Hardy relishes when students who at first think they’re not good at science gain self confidence in her classes. In her biology courses, Hardy engages students by peppering them with questions and incorporating group activities. Each class also culminates in a research project. “They gain self-efficacy and leave proud of themselves,” she says.

MELISSA HARDY, PhD, Associate Professor, Biology

When Hardy first began teaching at SLCC in 2011, she taught how she was taught, through lectures and tests. This approach has since evolved into a style that relies on active learning. “I’ve really focused on making the material more accessible and inclusive in order to reach and engage my students,” says Hardy. She attributes her teaching evolution to the supportive collegiate environment in the School of Science, Mathematics and Engineering, where leadership encourages new ideas.

Hardy has enormous respect and admiration for her students, not just because they are smart and motivated but also because many pursue education despite significant hardships. “Being a professor here is an amazing way to cultivate empathy, because you listen to and witness so many students who are going through incredibly difficult challenges but still persevere in their coursework,” she says. “It’s incredibly rewarding to help my students succeed.”

IT’S INCREDIBLY REWARDING TO HELP MY STUDENTS SUCCEED.

Hardy earned a bachelor’s degree in Zoology at Brigham Young University, a master’s degree in Biology: Ecology and Systematics at San Francisco State University and a PhD in Neurobiology and Anatomy at the University of Utah. “I’m in love with my field,” says Hardy. “It’s pretty amazing that I get to go into work each day to talk about biology and see students’ minds open up.”

NIKKI MANTYLA

Adjunct professor, English, Linguistics and Writing Studies

In class, Nikki Mantyla often displays students’ sentences on a screen and invites everyone to shift around words and punctuation. She wants to disarm students who may fear writing and perceive it as rigid. She shows them how the arrangement of words can be played with to create different emphases.

“I find the best learning happens through curiosity, experimentation, discussion, questioning and simply playing around,” says Mantyla, who teaches general education and novel writing classes. “I want students to discover the many methods of giving life to the words on the page.”

I FIND THE BEST LEARNING HAPPENS THROUGH CURIOSITY, EXPERIMENTATION, DISCUSSION, QUESTIONING AND SIMPLY PLAYING AROUND.

In her 15 years of teaching at SLCC, Mantyla has heard many students say they hated writing until they took one of her classes. She recalls one student who says for the first time ever he felt his voice as a writer was worthwhile and he could use it to speak up and out.

Teaching is part of Mantyla’s heritage. Her grandparents and parents were teachers, and she has always loved the challenge in teaching others. She earned both her bachelor’s degree in English Teaching and master’s degree in English with a creative writing emphasis at BYU.

“I want all my students to walk into the world confident and able to engage in whatever way they will need to through writing.”

The Teaching Excellence Award, presented by the Salt Lake Community College Foundation Board, recognizes cumulative excellence in professional education over the span of a career. Both full-time and adjunct faculty are eligible for the award.